Emergency Landing is a landing made as soon as possible to cope with an in-flight occurrence that endangers aircraft safety forcing the aircraft to land.

The different types of emergency landings are defined as follows:

• Forced landing—an immediate landing, on or off an airport, necessitated by the inability to continue further flight.

  A typical example of which is an airplane forced down by engine failure.

• Precautionary landing—a premeditated landing, on or off an airport, when further flight is possible but inadvisable. A precautionary landing differs from the forced landing in the availability of power and aircraft systems. It is, generally, less hazardous than a forced landing because the pilot has more time for terrain selection and the planning of the approach. In addition, the pilot can use power to compensate for errors in judgment or technique. The landing site will be at the earliest opportunity.

  • Examples of conditions that may call for a precautionary landing include deteriorating weather, being lost, fuel shortage, gradually developing engine trouble, darkness approaching faster than anticipated (when the pilot does not have night flying experience).

• Ditching—a forced or precautionary landing on water.

The correct answer is "Emergency landing", because an emergency landing refers to any landing necessitated by sudden, unforeseen conditions that require the pilot to land the aircraft as quickly and safely as possible.